Raina shines again, but UP lose
LUCKNOW: In the shortest version of the gentlemen’s game, playing dot balls is like committing a crime as it reduces one’s chances of scoring big runs.
This remained the only difference between the former champions Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu as latter scored an emphatic five-wicket win in their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Twenty20 Super League match on Tuesday in Kolkata.
Tamil Nadu bowled 37 dot balls, and spinners didn’t allow Suresh Raina and Akshdeep Nath to repeat their Monday’s performance when they played blistering knocks against hosts Bengal, and it proved worthy for the side at the end even as UP bowled 35 dot balls, at a slow Eden Gardens pitch.
Skipper Raina made his intentional very clear from the first ball after he chose to bat first after winning the toss. Even after losing Samarth Singh (3) even in the third over of play, both Rain and fellow opener Shivam Chaudhary (38, 33b, 4x4, 1x6) kept the scoreboard ticking on a fast pace and the duo added 70-run for the second wicket then. India’s highest run getter in this form of game, Raina, who had an unbeaten century on Monday, hammered seven fours and a six in his 41-ball 61 before being caught by M Ashwin off Washington Sundar at mid-on boundary, and before that Shiva was caught by Sanjay Yadav at deep mid-wicket region off M Ashwin. Next man Akshdeep Nath too went on scoring an unbeaten 28-ball 38, which contained five hits to the fence, where Rinku Singh made 11, but UP could score 162/4 in 20 overs.
For Tamil Nadu, run chase never looked difficult as openers K Bharat Shanker (30, 19b, 6x4) and M Washington Sundar (33, 30b, 3x4) stitched together 35-run in 20-ball for the opening wicket, before Sanjay Yadav (52, 32b, 2x4, 3x6) and Sundar collecting 64-run for the second wicket. Though UP had two wickets in the 16th over and then the other one in the 18th over, Tamil Nadu romped home with four balls to spare.
This was UP’s first loss in as two games so far in Group B, and now they play their next match against Baroda on Wednesday, at the JU Second Campus in Salt Lake.
UP COLTS MAKE IT TO HAZARE TROPHY SEMIS
LUCKNOW : It turned out to be a mere formality on Tuesday as Uttar Pradesh marched into the semi-finals of the Under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy, defeating hosts Maharashtra on the basis of the first innings lead at Pune.
While scoring 585 in their first innings, Uttar Pradesh got out Maharashtra for 335 and took 250-run lead. Instead of following on the rivals, UP batsmen chose to practice well and scored 353/7, drawing the game on the final day of the four-day quarterfinal at Pune on Tuesday.
Now, Uttar Pradesh play their four-day semi-final match against Haryana, starting Friday Mumbai, whereas in the second semi-final also at Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh would take on Punjab simultaneously at the other ground.
On Tuesday while resuming at the overnight score of 2/0, Uttar Pradesh lost opener Aanjaneya Suryavanshi (5) in the very fifth ball of the day. The other opener Bhavya Tewari (18, 55b, 1x4) too departed at team’s total of 62, but thereafter, UP batsmen especially young Allaahabdi Pratham Mishra and Divyansh Joshi held the innings together and kept toying with hosts bowlers.
Whereas Joshi scored 89-ball 82 with the help of nine fours and a six, Mishra, who had a century in the first innings, struck an unbeaten 63, which came off 48 balls with the help of three fours and five sixes.
Manuraja (41, 68b, 2x4), Sameer Rizvi (39, 49b, 5x4), Sumit Rathore (42, 82b, 3x4) and Ansh Yadav (45, 57b, 6x4) too enjoyed good outing in the middle. For Maharashtra, A Gawade and P Bajari shared four wickets between them.